XXXXVIII Panzer Corps

XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps
Country  Germany
Branch Heer
Type Corps
Engagements World War II

XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (also: XXXXVIII Army Corps or XXXXVIII. Armeekorps)[note 1], was a corps-level formation of the German Heer which saw extensive action on both the eastern and western fronts during World War II.

History

The corps was originally formed on 15 December 1940 in Germany as the XXXXVIII. Armeekorps (mot). At the dawn of Operation Barbarossa, on 22 June 1941, it was officially redesignated as the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps. However, the corps seems to have used both names until June–July 1942.

XXXXVIII Panzer Corps was attached to Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist's Panzer Group 1, a part of Army Group South. The corps was involved in the armored battles near Dubno early in the campaign, and later saw action at Berdichev and Kirovograd.

From late 1941 to May 1942, the corps took part in defensive operations in the Kursk area. Thereafter the corps joined the Fall Blau offensive towards Stalingrad under Army Group B. During the Battle of Stalingrad the corps was trapped and its major units, 22nd Panzer Division and 1st Armoured Division (Romania), were annihilated. However, it was quickly reformed and used by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Operation Winter Storm efforts to relieve General Friedrich Paulus' trapped Sixth Army still in Stalingrad.

In February 1943, the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps took part in the battles around Kharkov, and in June it was committed to the southern flank of the Battle of Kursk as part of Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army.

After the failure of Operation Citadel the corps took part in the fighting withdrawal from the Ukraine. By February 1945, the corps found itself in Silesia, and it ended the war defending the Elbe River, where it finally surrendered in May 1945.

Commanders

General Staff Officers

Subordinate units

XXXXVIII Motorized Corps

XXXXVIII Panzer Corps

Notes

  1. ↑ It was a motorized corps and as such was fully designated "XLVIII. Armeekorps (motorized)" or "XXXXVIII Corps (motorized)", and so on

References

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.